AMENDMENTS TO road traffic regulations are still not in place and a time frame has not been determined for the electronic parking metering system proposed for the Corporate Area.
The system, which was approved by Cabinet last year, would see motorists in downtown Kingston and in New Kingston paying $50 per hour for using the new electronic parking meters, under the privatised system by local firm Integrated Security Systems (ISS) Limited.
Town Clerk Errol Greene, who was responding to a question posed at the yesterday's Kingston and St Andrew Corporation council meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre, said that meetings between the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ), the KSAC and ISS were still looking at regulations and preparing for the necessary amendments for the system to be in place.
Prescribed streets to be included within the paid parking programme will have to be determined, as well as amendments to any laws, rules or regulations that may hinder the establishment of the process.
Standardised signs are also required along the prescribed streets to indicate length of stay for allotted parking spaces per vehicle. Detailed street analysis to determine the best location of parking meters to conform with areas already designated for taxis, public transportation, loading zones and disabled persons also have to be worked out.
The privatisation of the parking meter system to ISS was approved by the NIBJ last March and by the Cabinet in May. ISS will be using the Alteck Electronic cashless parking meter, which is specifically suited to outdoor applications and uses a stored value electronic token.
The regulated parking system is expected to ease traffic congestion, while providing employment opportunities, income for the government and facilitate growth and development.
"I had hoped that this would have already been behind us," the Town Clerk said after the meeting. "We're looking at amendments to the roads and traffic acts, we're working with lawyers and this has to be out of the way before ISS can implement the system."
He said that ISS had also asked that the five-year lease period where 444 meters are expected to be installed be extended, as the timeframe wasn't adequate for the level of investment and they still feel that it would require more time to implement. Capital expenditure on the project in year one would be around $18.5 to $20 million.
"Nothing can be done until the legal issues are out of the way," Mr Greene said.
The use of parking meters were first introduced by the KSAC in 1974, but suffered from theft and vandalism and had to be stopped. The new cashless system is expected to curtail the problem.
